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#205919

Lead Video Editor

Hybrid; Foster City, CA (3 Days Onsite/Week)
Date:

Overview

Placement Type:

Temporary

Salary:

$64-69.58 Hourly

W2

Start Date:

01.05.2026

Aquent’s Client is building a best-in-class in-house Media Lab to scale storytelling across brand, product, customer, and social channels. To meet the pace and quality our audiences expect, we’re hiring a Lead Video Editor; a seasoned post-production leader with sharp creative instincts and operational discipline. This role owns the editorial process end-to-end: from pre-production and on-set collaboration to ingest and final delivery across brand campaigns, internal communications, executive messages, product demos, event coverage, and social content. The ideal candidate has strong narrative instincts, thrives in corporate environments, and brings a proactive, solutions-oriented mindset, someone who can shape stories before the shoot begins and ensure every frame serves the creative vision.

About You

You’re a storyteller first and a technician second, someone who sees rhythm, emotion, and structure in the edit before you even open your software. You thrive on collaboration and clarity, balancing creative excellence with operational discipline. You move quickly, don’t take feedback personally, and communicate with confidence. You elevate every frame that passes across your screen and take pride in helping shape great stories, from pre-production to post.

Key Responsibilities

  • Lead editing and post-production for client brand and marketing content, ensuring creative and technical excellence.
  • Engage early in pre-production: collaborate with producers, directors, and creative leads on scripts, outlines, and shot lists to anticipate editorial flow and guide coverage from an editor’s lens.
  • Serve as on-set DIT when needed: manage media ingest, data integrity, color LUTs, log profiles, backups, and workflow handoffs to maintain a seamless transition into post.
  • Shape narrative flow and pacing aligned with client’s brand voice, from cinematic storytelling to agile social edits.
  • Partner with cinematographers and the production team to ensure footage, codecs, and lighting are optimized for post workflows.
  • Oversee the post pipeline: rough cuts, fine cuts, graphics integration, sound design, and finishing, delegating effectively while maintaining a high creative bar.
  • Mentor junior editors and freelancers, providing structured feedback and ensuring consistent visual and storytelling standards.
  • Maintain organized post systems and shared drives for efficient storage, handoffs, and revisions.
  • Contribute to documentation and workflow playbooks to help scale the Media Lab’s editorial operations.

Relationship Management

  • Build trusted partnerships across Brand, Product Marketing, Communications, and Creative.
  • Act as translator between creative intent and business clarity, ensuring stakeholders understand editorial direction and timelines.
  • Communicate progress and challenges proactively, managing expectations with confidence.
  • Foster a collaborative, transparent post-production culture built on accountability, clarity, and trust.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in film, media, or communications preferred, or equivalent experience with a standout reel and references.
  • 8+ years of professional editing experience across brand, product, event, and social content.
  • Proven ability to thrive in a tech or corporate environment balancing strategy and storytelling.
  • Experience contributing to pre-production planning (scripts, outlines, shot strategy, and coverage notes).
  • On-set DIT proficiency: camera media management, LUT/log workflow, color pipeline, data wrangling, and metadata organization.
  • Strong command of pacing, structure, and rhythm across multiple formats.
  • Expertise in Adobe Creative Suite (Premiere, After Effects, Audition); familiarity with DaVinci Resolve and Frame.io.
  • Highly organized communicator, capable of managing multiple concurrent projects.
  • Skilled at delegation and prioritization across complex post workflows.
  • Familiarity with camera workflows, codecs, and color pipelines.

Bonus Skills

  • Motion Graphics: Design or refine lower thirds, logo animations, and typography treatments.
  • CGI & Compositing: Experience collaborating with CG/VFX teams and integrating 3D assets.
  • Digital Asset Management (DAM): Skilled at organizing and maintaining shared media libraries.
  • Social Optimization: Understanding of platform specs, aspect ratios, and captioning for TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
  • Color & Sound: Working knowledge of grading and sound mixing.
  • Leadership: Experience mentoring editors and maintaining visual standards.

**About Aquent Talent:**
Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world’s biggest brands.
Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. More information on our awesome benefits!
Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We’re about creating an inclusive environment—one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.

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